A heap of scrap metal and odd car parts can go a long way when you put your mind to it. Case in point? This building-high Transformer, which has been entirely made from discarded car parts and erected by a team of students (presumably Transformers fanatics) at the Hangzhou University Students' Innovation Park.

We've seen our fair share of Transformers-inspired creations before (not least the type of gloriously-complex cardboard Halloween costumes that guise humans as real-life robots in disguise), but this ambitious construction takes them all to new heights, quite literally. Seemingly styled on the red-and-blue colours of Autobot hero Optimus Prime, the 10-metre high structure also holds a car in its right hand.

Not only a fitting tribute to Michael Bay's robot-on-robot smash-a-thon, the structure represents an incredible feat of design and construction. How could they better it you say? We'd like to see them disassemble and reassemble the whole thing into the classic American design of the Peterbilt 379 truck. Now that'd be impressive.

Which Superhero Is The Strongest? University Study Finds Out

For decades, nerds have waged war over one simple question - who is the strongest superhero? Students at the University of Leicester have decided to settle this argument with science - conducting a study to find out the strongest of them all.

Indian Students Develop Bra That Electrocutes Assailants

A group of Indian engineering students have designed a wearable solution to a terrible problem: a bra that can give a would-be rapist a literal 3800kv shock.

Manisha Mohan, a student at SRM University in Chennai, saw the aftermath of the gang rape and murder of a student, and how reluctant the government was to help. So she and two friends, Niladhri Basu Bal and Rimpi Tripathi, decided to use their scientific knowledge to provide a form of protection.

Brave Robotics Create Real-Life Transformer

1/12th the size of your average Transformer of the Autobot variety, Japanese developer Brave Robotics' 3D-printed car-to-bipedal transformer robot is no less impressive. Replete with a Wi-Fi-enabled camera that appears to wirelessly feed footage in real-time over the cloud and working headlights (it's the small touches that count), the walking robot can even fire tiny darts from its arms. (A rocket launcher attachment is presumably pending approval.)

Weekend Reading: Gadget Show Live Christmas, Real-Life Transformers And Portal On A Calculator

Let's be honest, it's a Sunday and everyone is feeling one of two conditions: hungover or extremely lazy. Since I'm feeling both of these, I shall be brief. The last thing you want to do is go on a content discovery mission through our vast back catalogue of original news, reviews, interviews and features. So, with this in mind, welcome to 'Weekend Reading.'

This is a selection of pieces on New Rising Media from the week gone by, compiled by the Editor-in-chief (the hungover man, me), which you may have missed, or fancy reading again.

Engineers Build Supercomputer Using Raspberry Pi And Lego

Six-year old James Cox, dad Professor Simon Cox and other engineers at the University of Southampton have built a low-cost 'supercomputer' using nothing more than humble Lego blocks and 64 Raspberry Pi single-board computers.